No more room in this house

[joeleere]

It started in the late 1970's when there was the gas rationing. They said I had to curtail driving and insulate my house. I had the whole house insulated, caulked and weather stripped. I also added a wood stove. For the next few years they said we must save more energy, so I added more insulation, replaced the doors, and put vents in the attic. At the same time I quit driving except when I had to, and took one short vacation each year. Then things seemed to calm down in the later 80's and into the 90's. I started driving more, took more vacations and did nothing more to the house.

Around the turn of the century we again began to hear about conserving energy. Everytime I turned on the tv they said we must reduce our energy, insulate, and drive less. Once again I insulated, putting another 8 inches over the inner walls. I reduced my heat from 72 to

68 in the winter, and I quit driving except when I had to. Every year they repeated this same message, and I found myself insulating again, and again. I replaced all the windows with double layer energy ones, and cut my thermostat to 65, then 62, and then to 58. I shut off my air conditioner completely, and stopped all vacations, and any other use of the car except for emergencies.

In the last few years they again said we must cut back our thermostats, so I reduced mine to 50. I once again added one foot of insulation on the inside of the walls, and insulated over the windows. I also parked my car for good when the gas hit $3 a gallon, and lowered my winter heat to 48, then 45, and down to 42.

It's now 2007 and the gas prices have gone thru the roof. Once again they said on tv that we must lower our thermostats and insulate. I just shut off the furnace entirely, and added another 3 feet of insulation on the inside of the house. This time I also covered the doors, so in order to get in an out, I have to remove all the duct tape holding the insulation in place. My car no longer starts from sitting too long. They also said to caulk, so this time I covered the whole house with caulk on the outside. I also shut off the water heater and removed all sinks and the tub. Only the toilet remains, and I only flush it once every month. I removed all but one light bulb in the house and threw out the refrigerator.

Well, last week they announced that we must cut back more on our energy use. I could not turn down the heat anymore, could not drive less, could not shut off any more lights, and all I could do was add more insulation. But now I have a problem. All this insulation has reduced my 1600 sq. ft. house to a 160 Sq. Feet. The insulation has used up all the space, and I had to toss most of the furniture. There is no more room in this house. If they tell me to insulate one more time, and I know they will, I'll have a house that is completely filled with insulation, leaving me no room to get around But, I'm sure they will tell us to insulate again, so I am preparing. I set up a tent in my yard right next to my car. so I can use the car as a kitchen and sleep in the tent. The only problem is that the senior program that used to deliver food every week to us elderly people had to stop delivering because of the gas prices, and since I dont have a running car, I guess I wont need a kitchen. So, I may as well just stay in the tent, and forget the car. At least I still have my flashlight for light, and the little heat it puts out....... until the batteries go dead anyhow.....

Well, I better go. I am having the electricity turned off today, so this computer won't work anymore.....

Joe

[Mamba]

I see the problem with this logic. To save energy, first turn off your TV.

[Tom G]

I remember, also, back in the 70's when the gas company said we had to cut back our thermostats to conserve on the consumption of natural gas. Then, the next year the gas company petitioned (and got) for an increase in the price they were allowed to charge for gas. Seems that users had cut their thermostats down so much that they were no longer making the profit they were guaranteed by the commission. So, consumers ended up paying just as much for heat but getting less of it. A few years earlier, the local electric company only billed consumers every other month because bills were just so low that it didn't make economic sense to bill monthly. Then they were bought out by ComEd, who immediately started billing monthly, saying that it would be more convenient for consumers. But, would you believe that the monthly bills soon became as much as what we used to be billed bi-monthly. Makes one tend to become a believer in "conspiracies", don't you think?

Tom.

[terry]

Not conspiracies. Just facts of life; world facts that is. If there is only so much water and we pollute/waste much of it ........ If there is only so much oil and much of it is managed by big world business.................. If there is only so much air/oxygen in the atmosphere ......... If there is only so much nature/land/trees/plants/ocean/fish/mammals etc. there are going to be pressures. etc. etc. yada, yada Pressures will lead to competition; as we use up more and more of the earth's materials (we call them resources but they are not inexhaustible!) ........................... What we are starting to see now is just a minor start of what will be incredible changes/shortages for things we now take for granted! Won't be around in 50 years time but it will be interesting! Perhaps we need to reduce world population especially in those regions (countries) which consume the greatest amounts and percentages of (there's that word again!) 'resources' on this planet! Here endeth the sermon .................. !!!!

[EO]

And every year we add more and more things (electric) that we can't turn off without pulling the plug - only a little here and there but all those little bits add up to a large bunch.

Ed

[alvinamorey]

You mean like all those little black transformers that are used for almost everything we buy these days, and remain warm as long as they are in an outlet? Or how about all the tv sets and computer monitors that have the "instand on" feature. It's instant on because it's never fully off. I have a master switch for my whole entertainment center and computer equipment. When that switch is shut off, everything is fully off. Besides saving energy, it also saves the equipement during lightning storms.